Review by Daniel for Armored Saint - March of the Saint (1984)

Five-piece heavy metal outfit Armored Saint first formed in April 1982 when they were all still studying at South Pasadena High School in Los Angeles, California with the band name conceived in a theatre car park after watching the film “Excalibur”. A five song demo tape was released later the same year & it impressed Metal Blade Records owner Brian Slagel enough to see a song included on the Metal Massacre II compilation with three of the demo tracks being released as Armored Saint’s self-titled EP in August 1983. This led to a recording contract with Chrysalis Records in 1984 & the eventual release of Armored Saint’s debut studio album “March Of The Saint” in July of that year.

It’s a very polished sounding product really & far TOO polished for the band’s liking as they’ve stated as much in several interviews over the years. Their feeling is that producer Michael James Jackson (who had previously worked with more commercial bands like KISS) had pushed them in a more accessible direction than they were comfortable with & you can definitely see what they’re talking about here however I can’t say that I feel sorry for them because I thoroughly enjoy the production on “March Of The Saint”. It’s a really professionally presented package that does well to highlight the best elements of these easy-on-the-ear heavy metal tunes. But to a band raised on the NWOBHM it would certainly have sounded pretty commercial & the rockier nature of a few of the tunes wouldn’t have helped either. But look… Armored Saint were from LA & this was a time when the glam metal movement was dominating the airways so it’s not too surprising that we can hear a bit of that in their sound.

Thankfully though, the performances are all excellent. These guys really know how to write catchy metal. The rhythm section show a good understanding of both composition & technique with Joey Vera’s bass-playing being quite accomplished even if it is a little low in the mix for my liking. The two guitarists are pretty special for such a young age & their guitar solos are all beautifully composed to further accentuate the song-writing. But it’s front man John Bush that’s the real winner for mine. His powerful voice reminds me a lot of guys like Alice In Chains’ Layne Stayley & Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell which can only be a good thing. He’s got an amazing scream on him & a distinctly bad-assed feel to his tone that I greatly prefer over the more operatic style that most US heavy metal singers were adopting at the time. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that John’s one of my all-time favourite heavy metal vocalists & I wasn’t surprised in the least when he ended up joining Anthrax eight years later. The song-writing is a little inconsistent at times but John’s performances see almost all of this material being pretty enjoyable as he’s just that good. He may not have as big a range as a Dio or Halford but he makes up for it with pure confidence & power.

The tracklisting includes a variety of different styles with the opening title song being more in line with some of the more epic power metal we'd hear over the next few years. I have to say that even though this song is one of Armored Saint’s biggest tunes it’s never really appealed to me much personally for some reason. I greatly prefer the more accessible & fun songs that follow it. “Mad House” for instance is pure speed metal ala Judas Priest’s “Exciter”, “Take A Turn” is a pretty decent example of the obligatory rock power ballad while “Stricken By Fate” reminds me heavily of the sound Guns ‘n’ Roses would champion a couple of years later. I’d actually be surprised if there’s no connection there to tell you the truth.

It’s pretty clear that most of Armored Saint’s influences are English with plenty of galloping Iron Maiden rhythms, some of those groovier mid-70’s Black Sabbath moments, a truck load of anthemic Judas Priest hooks & even the odd example of the Motorhead style biker metal riff included. This is classy stuff indeed & I find it hard not to enjoy even the weakest moments but I have to admit that the more commercially accessible feel does prevent “March Of The Saint” from becoming an underground metal classic. Every song has potential but only the hit single “Can U Deliver” really answers the question posed in its title in emphatic fashion. The rest of the material ranges from pretty decent to particularly solid examples of mid-80’s US heavy metal with a couple of toes overlapping into the territory of their LA glam metal contemporaries. I’d definitely recommend "March Of The Saint" though. It showcases all of the reasons that I came to love Armored Saint in the early 90’s.